11.18.2009

218 days pregnant & dealing with Gestational Diabetes

Today I am 217 days pregnant ( 31 weeks and 1 day).
As I mentioned on previous posts, I had been diagnosed
with Gestation Diabetes. I think I left you on the last post
saying that I was going to visit with the doc and possibly have
to get insulin. Well, yep he said I need insulin. The diet
wasn't working, so I take 5 injections a day!! UGH
It hasn't been "as bad" as I thought. I take Humulin by syringe
in the morning and at night (2 doses) and then the
Humalog pen with breakfast, lunch, and dinner (3 doses). The
pen is very similar to what I used in my fertility treatments, so
I felt like a pro! ha I was really nervous to use the syringe, but
the needle wasn't big at all, infact it hurts less than the pen!!
Here is a little bit of info for those who aren't very familar
with gestational diabetes:
When you eat, your digestive system breaks most of your food
down into a type of sugar called glucose. The glucose enters your
bloodstream and then — with the help of insulin, a hormone
made by your pancreas — provides fuel for the cells of your
body. Like the type 1 and type 2 diabetes you can get when
you're not pregnant, gestational diabetes causes the glucose
to stay in your blood instead of moving into your cells and
getting converted to energy. Why does this sometimes happen
when you're pregnant? During pregnancy, your hormones make
it tougher for your body to use insulin, so your pancreas needs
to produce more of it. For most moms-to be, this isn't a
problem: As your need for insulin increases, your pancreas
dutifully secretes more of it. But when a woman's pancreas
can't keep up with the insulin demand and her blood glucose
levels get too high, the result is gestational diabetes.Most
women with gestational diabetes don't remain diabetic once
the baby is born. Once you've had it, though, you're at higher
risk for getting it again during a future pregnancy and for
becoming diabetic later in life.
My next OB appt is on the 30th. I believe they'll will be keeping
a close watch on Miss Stella so that she doesn't get too big!
For most women with gestational diabetes, the main worry is that
too much glucose will end up in the baby's blood. When that
happens, the baby's pancreas needs to produce more insulin
to process the extra glucose. All this excess blood sugar and
insulin can cause your baby to make more fat and put on extra
weight, particularly in the upper body.

11.12.2009

T Minus 70 days

Today I am 30 weeks preggo =) Hard to believe I have only
10 weeks or less until I meet baby Robinson A.K.A. Stella.
After seeing her on the 3D ultrasound, I feel more than
ready to be her mommy. I cannot wait until the day I
can hold her and introduce her to her daddy and sisters
who are overjoyed to meet her as well!
This past weekend I finally got all of her clothes hung up.
I still haven't bought anything brand new for Miss S, all
of her clothes are either her sisters or from yard sales. But
they are the cutest clothes eva! lol I will however probably buy
her a new dress to wear home from the hospital =)
I need to get to wal-mart and just buy all of her necessities,
baby shampoo, lotions, diapers, wipes, etc. Other than
that I think we're set!!
So on my last post I posted about having gestational diabetes.
This week I've tested my blood sugar every day, 4x's a day.
My numbers have come down some with diet, but not to what
they "should" be. I meet with the doc Friday, we'll see what
he says. It really hasn't been hard cutting out the sugar/sweets
b/c I haven't craved them at all this pregnancy. It's the carbs
that is tough =( Anything for my little princess tho!
I meet with a dietician today to go over some meal plans, etc.
I finally got to feeling "myself" again after the pneumonia. I
got some of my energy back...and just in time! Hunter got the
flu last week and was pretty much "out of it" for a week =(
Thanks to my awesome mom, we quarantined her to one
bedroom and bathroom and nobody else got sick...thank God!
Alli Jo has been getting sinus infections again, and I was hoping it
wouldn't be so many since she had her tonsils out last spring.
She still snores quite a bit as well, so I'm hoping with time that
will all go away...poor girl!
There hasn't been many other body changes, except for this
ever growing belly! I cannot sleep at night and it is getting harder
and harder to turn in bed. I have very painful ligament pains, sort
of like "popping" when I turn in bed. I also have some cramping
which I know is just "growing pains" so to speak. And I dont' have
to even mention how many times I use the restroom in the middle of
the night LOL
Here's what's going on with Stella this week:
Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost
3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but
that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more
room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though
it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes
closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them,
she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision —
which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

11.07.2009

203 days pregnant

Thursday I was 203 days pregnant (29 weeks)!
Getting closer to meeting our angel every day =)
I found out this week I have gestational diabetes.
For those of you who don't know what that is;
gestational diabetes is high blood sugar (diabetes) that starts or
is first diagnosed durning pregnancy.
I had my glucose screening last week, and my number was
double what it should be...so I skipped the 4 hr test and
went straight to seeing an endocrine specialist.
We are seeing how my numbers look this week, and if
they don't lower I will need insulin.
I test my blood sugar 4x's/day. Took me a little bit to
get used to...but I'll do anything for my baby girl!
Here are a few pictures we captured in 3D of Miss Stella